You are Helga, only 10 years old when the maniacal Hitler decides to tear Europe apart. One day your parents receive a letter which orders you to become part of the Hitler Youth, the “Jugend.” Neither you nor your parents have a choice in this matter. So what does being a Jugend entail and how does it feel? To find the answers to these questions, Karen Truesdell Riehl interviewed Helga in 2001 and used her story to write an engaging, sometimes horrifying novel based on what actually happened in Helga’s life.

Initially, Helga and her companions were excited and flattered to be one of Hitler’s chosen few. In their innocence, they did not realize how the Jugend leaders were taking control of their young minds, to the extent that if necessary they were expected to turn in their own families for anti-Hitler sentiments or behaviour. Over the course of 2 years of indoctrination, these Jugend were fed food their poor parents were denied and lived in relative luxury. Cult-like, they idolized their Fuhrer, dreaming of meeting him and passionately believing Hitler was looking after them and Germany. They couldn’t understand why their parents didn’t see Hitler as they did, as a beloved benefactor.

Helga: Growing Up in Hitler’s Germany by Karen Truesdell Riehl was a riveting read. My own parents had told me of their suffering in the German labour camps. They’d described the austere, emotionless faces of the Jugend, but Helga’s story explained why they were that way. It was enlightening indeed to learn the facts. If you’d like to know the truth about the Jugend, learn it from someone who lived through it. Read Helga: Growing Up in Hitler’s Germany by the talented and prolific Karen Truesdell Riehl.

Helga: Growing up in Hitler's Germany by Karen Truesdell Riehl is based on the author's 2001 interview with Helga, a former member of the Jugend, Hitler's child army. Even though many of the names have been changed and a lot of the dialogue has been fictionalized, this is still an evocative and harrowing tale. It details life for a supposed 'Aryan' in the Third Reich, who has been molded and socially engineered to believe that the Fuhrer is right and good and will protect them and Germany from harm. Helga begins when she is ten and receives a letter in the mail, inviting her to join the Jugend. Even though it's an invitation, she really has no choice about joining as suspicions abound in the Third Reich. Lured in with sweets and patriotic songs, she is soon saluting 'Heil Hitler' every chance she gets, much to her parents' disappointment. As the years pass, she slowly grows more disillusioned as she witnesses crimes against Jews and others deemed not Aryan. Friends disappear and Hitler’s promise is proven to be a farce. Soon the war finally begins to draw to a close and Helga decides to escape the Jugend and return to her family.

Helga is an engaging and likable character, even in the beginning when she starts to believe the indoctrination the Jugend feeds her. As she grows older, she begins to see what is happening around her and after the war she marries an American soldier and immigrates to America. Helga: Growing Up in Hitler's Germany by Karen Truesdell Riehl is a fascinating book that showcases a different side of life within the Third Reich and how, despite propaganda and lies, there are still people willing to stand up for what is right. It was a book that was hard to put down once I started.